JP3663947B2 - Ribbon refill mechanism for printing devices - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus that prints on a print object using an ink ribbon.
[0002]
[Prior art]
In recent printing devices that perform printing with a thermal head, an ink ribbon is stretched between a take-up reel and a take-up reel in a cassette. It is configured to be sent to the side.
[0003]
FIG. 7 shows such an ink ribbon cassette. The cassette 1 has an unwinding side core 3 for unwinding the ink ribbon 2 and a winding side core 4 for winding the ink ribbon 2. Stored. A drive shaft (not shown) that is driven via a gear mechanism by a drive roller of a printing device (not shown) is mounted in the hub 5 of the core 3. The central axis of the core 4 is rotatably supported by the cassette, and when the ink ribbon 2 is wound, a plate that applies back tension to the ink ribbon 2 to prevent the ink ribbon 2 from loosening. A spring is provided. The cassette 1 is provided with a thermal head insertion opening 7 for inserting the thermal head 6, and guide rollers 8 and 9 for the ink ribbon 2 are provided on both sides of the thermal head insertion opening 7.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the case of such a cassette-type ink ribbon supply mechanism, when the ink ribbon 2 is consumed, the entire cassette 1 of the ink ribbon 2 is discarded, so that it is necessary to separate the disassembled parts of the cassette 1. Since parts other than the ink ribbon 2 can be used, there is a problem that resources are wasted.
[0005]
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus, which eliminates the waste of waste and waste of resources due to such disassembly and is inexpensive.
[0006]
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus according to the present application is a printing apparatus that causes an ink ribbon to contact an object to be printed, and a thermal head to contact the ink ribbon to perform printing on the object to be printed. in use the ribbon refill mechanism, the ink ribbon and winding out unwinding side reel and said take-up side reel for taking up the ink ribbon, Ri Do and the ink ribbon is wound around the unwinding side, equal to a width of the ink ribbon a first ribbon core length, Ri Do a take-up side for taking up the ink ribbon, have the same length as the width of the ink ribbon, the take-up by an annular recess having a flat bottom provided around a second ribbon core to absorb expansion of ink ribbon of time, the first, together with any second ribbon core also are to be mounted so as to have a compatible Wherein the peripheral portion first, is formed on the second rotary shaft portion has a positioning projection for positioning the ribbon core and one end of the shore up will Ni brim of the ink ribbon at one end of the rotating shaft portion, A ribbon gear provided with a gear on the outer peripheral portion, and attached to the other end portion side of the rotary shaft portion of the ribbon gear to fix one of the first and second ribbon cores, and to fix the other end portion of the ink ribbon support, along with configured by a ribbon flange having a slit indicating the remaining amount of the ink ribbon, with a recess in which the first, second ribbon core itself projection and fitting the rotary shaft portion, the ribbon The flange and the rotary shaft portion can be attached and detached in the radial direction of the ribbon flange.
[0007]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 shows a main configuration of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[0008]
In FIG. 2, the printing object 20 includes a hollow tube 21, a name plate (not shown) made of a plastic sheet or paper sheet, a thick plastic plate, a soft plastic plate, and peeled off on the back surface. Label paper or a plastic sheet having a liner or the like can be cited. The printing apparatus 20 is effective particularly for printing on the tube 21 or a soft plastic plate or label paper and plastic sheet having a large thickness.
[0009]
In the printing apparatus 20, a platen roller 23, a conveyance roller 24, and a feed amount detection roller 25 are rotatably supported on a frame 22A. The conveyance roller 24 includes a driving roller 24A and a driven roller 24B. The drive roller 24A and the platen roller 23 are driven and controlled by the same motor (not shown), and the gear ratio is configured so that the peripheral speeds of the surfaces in contact with the respective tubes 21 are equal. The feed amount detection roller 25 is provided with a rotary encoder, and outputs the feed amount of the tube 21 to a control device (not shown).
[0010]
A thermal head 26 supported by the frame 22B is disposed at a position facing the platen roller 23. The thermal head 26 is fixed to a base 27, and the base 27 advances and retreats with respect to the platen roller 23 by expansion and contraction of an electromagnetic solenoid (not shown) controlled by the control device. Guide rollers 28 and 28 are disposed before and after the thermal head 26 of the frame 22B, and an ink ribbon 29 is stretched over the guide rollers 28 and 28 and the thermal head 26. The ink ribbon 29 is conveyed from the take-up reel 30 toward the take-up reel 31.
[0011]
The take-up reel 31 and the unwind reel 30 are constituted by a ribbon gear 32 and a ribbon flange 33 shown in FIGS. A journal portion 35 that is rotatably held by a bearing (not shown) is provided below the rotation shaft portion 34 of the ribbon gear 32, and a gear 36 is formed below the rotation shaft portion 34. When the ribbon gear 32 is attached to the bearing on the take-up reel 31 side, the gear 36 meshes with the gear of the output shaft of the motor described above and rotates at the same peripheral speed as the platen roller 23 and the drive roller 24A. When the ribbon gear 32 is mounted on the bearing on the unwinding reel 30 side, the gear 36 can freely rotate. The ribbon gear 32 is detachably attached to both the bearing of the unwinding reel 30 and the bearing of the winding reel 31. A ribbon flange 33 is attached to the journal portion 37 at the top of the rotating shaft portion 34. The central portion of the rotating shaft portion 34 is formed thick so that the ribbon core 38 can be attached. As shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B, a positioning projection 39 of the ribbon core 38 projects from the root portion of the rotation shaft portion 34 of the gear 36.
[0012]
As shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, the ribbon flange 33 is formed with an insertion hole 43 for mounting at the upper center portion of the rotary shaft portion 34, and protrudes from the journal portion 37 of the ribbon gear 32. The ribbon flange 33 is fixed between the small flange portion 44 and the thick central portion of the rotary shaft portion 34. A pair of slits 45 for displaying the remaining amount of the ink ribbon 29 is formed around the ribbon flange 33, and a recess 46 that can be used for attachment and detachment is formed. The insertion hole 43 is formed to have a slightly smaller diameter than the journal part 37 so that the journal part 37 can be press-fitted. The ribbon flange 33 is formed on the journal part 37 of the rotary shaft part 34 at the back of the insertion hole 43. When press-fitting, a slit 47 is formed for slightly expanding the ribbon flange 33.
[0013]
As shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B, a positioning recess 40 into which the positioning projection 39 is inserted is formed in the ribbon core 38 on the unwinding side. When the ribbon core 38 is attached to the central portion of the rotation shaft portion 34, the protrusion 39 and the recess 40 are fitted to each other, so that the rotation with respect to the rotation shaft portion 34 is prevented.
[0014]
As shown in FIGS. 6 (A) and 6 (B), the ribbon core 41 on the winding side is formed with a recess 40 into which the protrusion 39 is fitted. The ribbon core 41 on the winding side is formed with an annular recess 42 for absorbing the swelling of the ink ribbon 29 after printing. While the ink ribbon 29 deformed by the heat and pressure of printing is wound, the ink ribbon 29 swells outside the ribbon core 41, but the recess 42 is formed to absorb the portion where the ink ribbon 29 swells. Uneven winding of the ink ribbon 29 is prevented.
[0015]
A cutter 48 that cuts the tube 21 printed by the thermal head 26 at a predetermined interval is provided on the destination side of the tube 21 of the transport roller 24.
[0016]
According to the ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus of this embodiment, the reels 30 and 31 on the unwinding side and the winding side of the ink ribbon 29 are constituted by the ribbon gear 32 and the ribbon flange 33, and the ribbon core 38 for unwinding The ribbon core 41 for winding can be attached to and detached from the rotary shaft 34 of the ribbon gear 32 and replaced. For this reason, when the ink ribbon 29 is consumed, it is only necessary to replace the ribbon core 38 and the ribbon core 41 around which the ink ribbon 29 is wound, and the labor for disassembling and separating waste is remarkably reduced, and the cost is reduced. .
[0017]
【The invention's effect】
According to the first and second ribbon refill mechanisms for a printing apparatus of the present application, the reel of the ink ribbon is constituted by the ribbon gear and the ribbon flange, and the ribbon core for unwinding and the ribbon core for winding are respectively connected to the rotation shaft of the ribbon gear. Since the ink ribbon is consumed, it is only necessary to replace the ribbon core around which the ink ribbon is wound, which greatly reduces the trouble of disassembling and separating and reducing the cost. .
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a configuration of a ribbon refill mechanism of a printing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a main configuration of a printing apparatus equipped with the ribbon refill mechanism of FIG. (A) is a plan view of the ribbon gear, (B) is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon gear [FIG. 4] (A) is a plan view of the ribbon flange, (B) is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon flange [FIG. 5] (A) is unwinding FIG. 6B is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon core mounted on the winding side. FIG. 6A is a plan view of the ribbon core mounted on the winding side. FIG. 7B is a cross-sectional view of the ribbon core. Schematic diagram of a conventional cassette-type ink ribbon [Explanation of symbols]
20 Printing Device 29 Ink Ribbon 30 Unwinding Reel 31 Reeling Reel 32 Ribbon Gear 33 Ribbon Flange 34 Ribbon Gear Rotating Shaft 38 Ribbon Core 41 for Unwinding Ribbon Core for Winding

Claims (1)

In a ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus that makes an ink ribbon contact with a printing object and prints on the printing object by contacting a thermal head over the ink ribbon,
The unwinding side reel unwinding the ink ribbon and the ink take-up reel for taking up the ribbon, the ink ribbon Ri Do the unwinding side by winding the same length the first and the width of the ink ribbon and ribbon core, Ri Do a take-up side for taking up the ink ribbon, the ink has a width as long as the ribbon, bulge of the ink ribbon during winding by an annular recess having a flat bottom provided around a second ribbon core to absorb, the first, the the outer circumferential portion together with the one of the second ribbon core also are to be mounted as a compatible first positioning protrusion for positioning the second ribbon core formed on the rotating shaft portion and one end portion of the shore up will Ni brim of the ink ribbon at one end of the rotating shaft portion having a Ribongia having a gear on an outer peripheral portion, before the Ribongia Wherein mounted on the other end side of the rotary shaft portion first, one of the second ribbon core is fixed, support the other end portion of the ink ribbon, comprising a slit indicating the remaining amount of the ink ribbon ribbon flange and together with formed by the first, with a recess in which the second ribbon core itself protrusions mate with the rotation shaft, and the ribbon flange and the rotary shaft portion radial direction of the ribbon flange A ribbon refill mechanism for a printing apparatus, wherein the ribbon refill mechanism is removable.

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